Remember When
by Zyuette H
Summary: Series of six-shots reflecting on Gale's and Madge's thoughts on certain situations in the Hunger Games.
1. The Beginning

**A/N:- The stories presented here after are individuals of themselves except for the words that connect them. You will understand it once we are done with two chapters.**

**Disclaimer:- Again, Me no SC, so me no own Hunger Games Trilogy. **

The breeze blew softly, blowing his dark hair out of his eyes. The breeze which is supposedly soothing, carries with itself a sweet smell. He closes his eyes, mesmerized by its sweet smell losing himself for good. And then with sudden realisation his eyes snap open. He recognises it . The evening primroses. The kind that are rarely seen after the rebellion. The rebellion whipped out nearly every primrose there ever was in Panem and now only a few survive.

But he knows that it does not matter. It is of no use that those handful of primroses have survived. The most important primrose of them all has been whipped out. The one Primrose he was meant to protect. The one Primrose that he grew attached to as if it was part of his very own family. And it was all his fault. _His _fault. He swallowed the growing lump of guilt in his throat forcing himself to forget his miseries. He didn't come here to mourn for all his mistakes. There had been enough mourning in his entire life. He was here to forget it all.

And yet somehow, after sometime he realised that it was not a good idea at all, to come here. He thought that the sweet smell of the breeze, the crunching sound of the fallen leaves and the sound of the rushing water in the nearby river might calm his frantic nerves down, the way they did when he escaped the captivity of the Capitol in those old days.

But yet in every sound, every sight, every noise and every smell he found himself drifting back to those carefree days he spent with his Catnip, hallucinating her laugh in every way possible. Feeling her essence in everything he came across in the woods.

He found himself looking longingly at a tree where he remembered he spent hours ,with Katniss, since the fence was charged.

He turned away from it only to come across the log - the hollow log - where Katniss hid her bow.

Everything was overwhelming him beyond his capacity to control it. Before he knew his feet carried him to the river. The river where he would sometimes fish and swim with Katniss in summer days to ward the heat off.

And without him knowing it, every moment he spend with Katniss came rushing back to him as his feet took him rocketing back and forth in the wood.

Sometimes stopping at their old rendezvous.

Sometimes stopping at the place - a tree where he had built his intricate snare - where he first met Katniss.

Sometimes in the Meadows, the flower field and the valley...

And in the end, the "house" - the one room hut - where she proposed the plan of them running away

The house where he first confessed his love for his Catnip

The house where she denied his love for her.

The house where his dreams of having any kind of relationship crashed to the earth.

The memories of the house was followed by something else. Something, that left a mark on him forever.

The pain he felt from the lashing was way beyond the pain he felt from all these painful memories resurfacing.

That was more than enough for today. He quickly skimmed through the forest floor to reach the hovercraft that was waiting for him on the other side of the fence. He was now the General of the army of New Panem. He had every facility at his doorstep. Everything he needed was within his reach. Gale Hawthorne had received more than he had bargained for. But who knew he would want back those awful days he so wanted to destroy back then. Those days full of protectiveness and hunting, friendship and trust though edged with painful starvation and tearing whips.

His presence in District 12 was known to everyone. Even to Katniss. But as expected she preferred to shut him out of his life. He felt much better that way. He didn't want to go through any more agonising memories. And yet he longed to meet his Catnip. But he knew that he lost his Catnip for good after that 74th Hunger Games. His Catnip no longer existed. He lost her the way he lost many people in the rebellion.

Just before reaching the fence, he came across something. Something bright in this ashen world. It glimmered red like a red light in black background. The strawberry bush was pulling him towards it, with its own gravity.

Plucking a ripe strawberry from the bush, he brought it towards his mouth and teared the soft flesh of it. The sweet juice filling his mouth.

And everything evaded his mind except for one thing.

_"Pretty dress,"_

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**A/N:- YAY! Finally got this one out. Well, tell me what you liked, what you didn't like. Would appreciate constructive critisism!**

**Next one is ready already and well **_**Mwahahahahahaha **_**I will post it after a few days... :D**


	2. The Attention

**A/N:- The stories presented here after are individuals of themselves except for the words that connect them. **

Gale's POV

_"Pretty dress,"_

I still remember me saying that. The sentence was made complete, with bucket loads of sarcasm and yet I meant every word of it. The white dress was comparatively much better than the school uniform she always seemed to appear in.

That was the first time I saw Madge Undersee in anything but her school uniform. Though me and Katniss used to sell her strawberries, it was immediately after the school was over and we always found her opening the door with her school uniform.

If the reaping days are in question then it was always their housekeeper who opened the door. But not this time.

That was the first time I actually paid attention to the Mayor's Daughter.

After Katniss was reaped - we know that Prim was reaped but still it was as good as Katniss getting reaped herself - I found myself coming across Madge more often. In the square or even at the Everdeen's house where just like me she would come to console Prim and not to mention that she was much better at it than me. I am not the one for heartfelt confessions and yet after days of Katniss being in the arena, I felt myself longing for the same attention that Madge gave Prim.

The odds were definitely in my favour and yet they were not.

I found the attention which put the odds in my favour. Everytime I felt the need to talk to someone I found myself right outside Madge's house. I never knocked, never. And yet, she would open the door instinctively. Mayor Undersee, as I came to know from Madge, would always be at the Justice Building from the crack of the dawn to late night. Justice Building was more of what he calls his home than this own. Mrs. Undersee's fate was not unknown to anyone in the district. Always remaining imprisoned in her bedroom only to wake up from the grueling headaches. In fact, Madge and her housekeepers were the only residents of this huge mansion in real sense.

Almost my entire telecast of Hunger Games was seen sitting on Madge's couch. Her housekeeper, who actually turned out to be living in the Seam, didn't mind my presence and did his work as if Madge and I never existed, tending to her mother's needs or cleaning around the house. We did nothing out of place. We would sit on the couch, her beside me and yet not in close proximity. But, having someone beside you who is going through the same agony as you felt a little comforting.

Madge, who practically never had a family with her father working day and night and her mother confined to her room, deserved an attention equal to the one she paid to us.

So that day, I reached her door. She opened it as usual. Giving me a heart- warming smile, she stepped aside to let me in, but I didn't. This seemed to have throwed her of the track. That made me smile wide enough.

As if me not entering her house was odd enough, she went completely blank when she saw me smiling. And then she mirrored my own smile but much wider and much more vibrant. She looked beautiful.

This is when I came to know the odds which were in my favour were no longer the same.

I found myself falling for the Strawberry girl in an inevitable manner. Going after some so-forbidden was in its own way inviting your death.

"Come, I will show you something," I said carefully not to jostle her. Except for the occasional 'hi's and 'thank you's we shared, this was the longest thing I ever directed towards her.

Holding my hand out to her, I knew how foolish my plan was. She would never leave the security of her house. My old stereotypical hatred towards her was just about to erupt when I felt her soft hands in mine. I looked up only to find her smiling towards me. Maybe I was wrong about her. Maybe she is not as secure as I thought she was.

She squeezed my hand to pull me out of my trance and I pulled her towards the fence. The entire way, her eyes swirled around looking at different parts of the Seam she never thought she would see. Some pointy and curious glances were thrown our way but I couldn't care less. Instead, I found myself looking at Madge as she drunk her surrounding in, her eyes ablaze with excitement as if going to wonderland. If a place like Seam would do this to her, I wonder what the woods might do. I need not wonder about that because I will soon find that out.

We reached the fence and as soon as the situation dawned on her, her eyes went wide with fear. Maybe this really was a bad plan after all. I never should have brought her to the Seam, let alone the woods.

I turned to apologize to her, telling her that I will take the entire blame for this but then I stopped short. Fear was definitely evident in her eyes as her eyes skimmed the forest but something beyond that was growing.

Excitement!

Excitement to leave the clutches of the Capitol, excitement to feel free for once, excitement which was the same as mine when my dad brought me out here for the first time.

She looked at me staring at her and turned crimson red and looked towards the ground. I found myself getting a bit warm around the collars but forced it down.

I am a man. A man does not blush. _Oh yeah, puh-lease. _My conscience is going to die someday.

I lifted some part of the fence for her to go through only to find her looking at me quizzically.

"Seriously?" she looked at me.

"Seriously? Do you think there is door here somewhere that you can use? Oh wait, I totally forgot. There is this door a few miles from here. Let's go," I said taking hold of her hand.

"No need for sarcasm, Mr. Hawthorne," she smiled and crawled to the other side of the fence.

She held it up for me. I crawled to the other side and took hold of her hand again. I like to hold her hand. Its soft and supposedly long for her age.

"Piano hands," she whispered looking at me as I inspect her hand. I smiled and pulled her to the flower field. Thats the only place where she belongs, this dangerous yet free woods.

The flower field has millions of flowers. All of different colours and fragrance. Captivating you then and there, and you would never want to leave that place.

Madge's face lit up so drastically that my entire focus was on her. Not the field but her.

She left my hand and ran to the centre of it, bending down to touch a flower. "Don't just touch it," I said and she looked hesitantly at the flower. Bending down, she plucked it and brought it to her nose giving it a sniff. Her eyes closed as the fragrance engulfed her leaving me dumb-struck as I watched her.

That left me with one thought.

She is the only thing in this damn world that is still unmoved.

She is...

_"Untainted"_

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**A/N:- Is it good? Oh Gawd! I am so nervous. Do tell me. Or I might just lock myself into a room and sulk in the corner. Nyaah, kidding XD !**

**Do Tell me :D**

**PS: Oh yeah, forgot...Do you want me writing about any specific part you cherish? Let me know :)**


	3. A Loner

A/N:- **A/N:- The stories presented here after are individuals of themselves except for the words that connect them. **

Madge's POV

_"Untainted"_

I always thought that sky was the only thing untainted and unmoved by the vicious atrocities commited by the Capitol. Everyday, I would spend hours looking at the sky, sometimes in the morning and sometimes at night. The only thing vibrant in my life was the Sun. And the only thing peaceful, the Moon.

They were my only company, my only sanctuary when the rest of the people of district chose to ignore me. "The Mayor's Daughter" was my identity. Not Margaret Undersee, not Madge.

The people living in the Seam hated me. Hated my guts, just because I didn't suffer from the miseries and the nightmares that torment them. The only one who was different among them was that Hawthorne boy, sending me angry glares whenever we saw of each other.

The people from the town were completely another story. They would inturn come to me and talk to me, trying to make me their best friend as if its an enormous privilege to be seen in my company. When I learned it the harsh way, I detached myself from every possible friendship I had with them.

That left me all alone. My dad thought, I was the anti-social one but what little he knows, his daughter was being mistreated all together.

Then one day, this girl, Katniss Everdeen caught my eye.

She sat alone as well. Not because she was mistreated like me. She was not the one to trust someone easily. That was what made her alone.

Time went on, and we actually became friends because we ended up together for certain activities just because we were alone.

I actually got a friend in real sense. Later, I learned that my housekeeper, Merlin, opens the door to this girl who brought my dad strawberries, the girl who was brave enough to hunt in the restricted woods beyond the fences of District 12.

One day, due to some reschedule, the older kids ended up eating at the same time as us and turns out, that the Hawthorne guy was friends with Katniss as well. In fact, they were close enough that he called her by her pet name - Catnip.

That was the worst day of my life. He would talk to her as if I didn't exist and the moment I would make any kind of noise like shuffling, the full force of his glare would turn to me and would dare me to make that noise again. I kept my temper in check, restraining myself from making that noise more than he could bare.

It was topped off when he came with her to my doorstep to sell me strawberries. This Hawthorne boy now became my nightmare, turning up in every possible aspect of my life. I admired Katniss for her bravery and now I had the same thing to admire in the guy who I hated the most and who hated me beyond limits.

Days went on and I learned more about Hawthorne. Like for instance, his name was 'Gale', like the destructive storm that destroys everything that comes in its path. It was a perfect name for him.

I learned that he lives with his mother, two little brothers and a soon-to-come little sister. On learning that I remembered him standing on the podium that day when my dad was offering Medal of Valour to those elder kids in the family, who would now have to become the bread-earners just because their father died in the mine accident.

That very day, I knew I admired Gale Hawthorne more than I thought I did. I understood him more than I thought I ever could and perhaps like him more than anyone I ever liked.

And thus my name was added to those girls who fainted at the mere mention of his name.

His presence was worshipped by ever girl but for one, Katniss Everdeen. And yet the universe being the unfair creature it was, made him fall in love with that girl, precisely. But I couldn't blame him or her.

I only had one thing to console myself with.

The very thing he told me before the reaping of the 74th Hunger Games.

_"No, its no one's fault. Just the way it is,"_

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**A/N:- You have NO idea how much your views made my day! **

**julietwithnoromeo and Fashionaddict22 for your reviews...Means a lot to me guys :D**

**Tell me if this was good enough. Should I keep posting? o.O?**


	4. The Denial

**A/N:- The stories presented here after are individuals of themselves except for the words that connect them. **

Gale's POV

_"No, its no one's fault. Just the way it is,"_

Yet I got lots of people to blame for my fate.

I blame everyone but my family and Katniss.

But most of all, I blame that Undersee girl.

Not because she is responsible for my predicament.

Not because she happens to be friend to my best friend.

Not because she is the Mayor's daughter and has much better fortune than the rest of her.

I blame her because its not her fault at all.

Her hair reflects sunlight whenever she steps out of her mansion, catching eyes of every guy that resides in District 12. Her eyes, as clear as a sky, engulfs you in them to their depths. And without you knowing it, you are a goner.

I laughed every single time I used to come across her.

Her face would fall looking at me, getting all closed off.

To tell the truth, I laughed in front of her for purpose. So that she would mistake my intentions. I laughed, yes, but at the person who would fall in love with her. More out of jealousy than anything else.

Thats the biggest reason, I blame her for. Before I knew what was happening, I was the one to have suffered the fate I laughed at years ago.

_X_

It was cold winter. Cold enough to freeze you to your very core. Cold enough to get your blood stop flowing. But that was no reason for me to stop. Stop hunting. Stop trading. Stop living.

Peeta and Katniss left for their victory tour. More unbearable kissing. Thats all they show on the TV nowadays. Leaving me with every god damn reason to thrash my TV. But lets face the fact. The Capitol makes it necessary to watch the Hunger Games. I probably might get arrested for ruining their little game show.

The cold wind trailing down my back pulled me out of my thoughts. I have got to get myself to the Hob before the cold freezes me and I die here. No pun intended here. I can actually die in this cold.

The Hob kept getting closer. My mind drifted to the soup thats supposed to wait for me at Greasy Sae's counter. Will it be wild dogs or squirrels? Whatever it may be, I hope its warm. It was pretty late in the night and I seriously think the soup would be warm now. I needed warmth.

That makes the gears in my mind turning. Warmth. That dumb bread boy was Katniss' warmth in the cave in the arena. The way they snuggled next to each other in that single sleeping bag was the ultimate cherry on the Gale's-worst-nightmare cake. My insides burn thinking the way Katniss reacted, reaching for his warmth. I felt the extreme need to hang that Mellar boy upside down. My fist, balling itself by their sides.

The loud noise of men's laughter drifted towards me as I neared the Hob.

"Lookie lookie, who we have here. The District Princess has adorned this moment by her presence," slurred a man, clearly drunk beyond control.

"Look at her hair, looks like gold. Will it fetch money if we sell it?" Laughs another which is followed by a whimper.

I was too angry to pay attention. Let the men do whatever they want. It was the girl's fault in the first place to come here at such time.

But then I register.

Hair like gold.

Blond hair.

That could be millions of town girls and two girls from the Seam. Mrs. Everdeen and . . .

Prim.

That makes me jog much faster to the Hob.

But then, there's one thing that it hits me like tonnes of lightning. I stop dead in my tracks.

District Princess. That could possibly be only one person.

The one person I chose to ignore after Katniss came back from the Hunger Games. The one person who supported me in my worse times and yet being the selfish person I am left her to rot all by herself. And the guilt comes rushing back to me.

" _Please. . . Stop. . ._ " Madge's desparate voice breaks through my stupor.

I ran faster. Faster than the time a wild boar came racing down on me and Katniss. Faster than I previously ran for Prim. Because there's much more they could do to Madge than to Prim.

There, by the wall of the Hob. Madge was cornered by two guys. One was beside her, leaning against the wall while the other one was right in front of her, running his hands through a strand that escaped her ponytail.

How dare they. How dare they touch Madge. How dare they touch her hair. How dare they lay eyes on _my_ Madge.

I gritted my teeth, locking my jaws tightly. My fist opening and closing on their own accord.

"Thats it. You are done," my voice sounding dead malicious.

All of them turn to me, Madge's eyes tearing up. Brave Madge who stood strong when her only friend was reaped. Brave Madge when she was thrust upon by duties and manners at a very young age. Brave Madge, who held herself together when everything around her crumbled.

And that made me more angry. How could they do this to her.

"Look boy, move along. Its none of your business. We will do nothing to you. Just go away and act as if you saw nothing," the one with Grey hair - the one who touched Madge's hair - said.

"Okay, if thats what you want," and Madge's eyes widened in fear. She thinks I am going to leave her hanging like that. Her eyes nervously darts to the two of them, panic increasing in them. I smile inwardly at her. Silly Madge.

I walk up to her. The two men are baffled by my actions and before they could comprehend what is happening, I am pulling Madge out of the alley. Her hand shaking miserably in mine. Poor Madge.

Suddenly I am grabbed by the Grey guy from behind, locking my arms in a painful stance and the other guy comes round to face me. I scream out in pain while Madge closes off due to fear, watching me as she looks around frantically to call someone for help.

"Think you are funny! Here-" the young guy lands a heavy punch in my stomach. I groan. This is followed by constant punches. Though they are drunk, he is pretty strong.

"This is for interrupting us," punch to the face. "Hold tight, Bryes!" punch to my sides. I scream out again.

"Lets get done with him. Then we will deal with the blondie," Bryes snears.

Thats it.

"She is not any blondie!" I yell, landing my elbow in Bryes' stomach. That does it. He screams doubling over in pain. I turn around to face the young guy.

I punch him right on the jaw, earning a grunt. He lashes out and it hits me right in the nose. Blood erupts from it and I hear Madge squeak. I kick the guy right below his knee sending him sprawling on the ground. One punch, right on his face and he clocks out.

Just then I hear a yowl from behind me. I forgot Bryes.

I turn around to find him lying face front on the ground. Madge stands behind him. Gripping the steel rod tightly.

"My name is Madge," she says, her voice shaking.

Her eyes meet mine and they are shaking badly. On instinct my arms open up and Madge comes running into them. Sobs rack her entire body and she cries her heart out.

I rock her to calm her down, whispering in her ear, telling her 'its okay' multiple times. Her sobs resides to sniffs and then she looks up, her eyes rimmed in red.

I cup her face gently, kissing her forehead. She reaches up and wipes the blood flowing from my nose with the back of her hand, all the while looking in my eyes.

"C'mon. Its late. You shouldn't be here," I say pulling her towards the square.

She stays quiet the entire time. But her hand still shakes from fear. She is shaken up pretty bad. I feel bad for her.

When I am about to leave her on her front porch, she stops me by holding my hand.

I stare at our interwined hands. Her soft piano hands looking small in my calloused ones. Our days back in the woods come rushing back to me. I can feel her gaze on my face.

She stares me down and when my eyes come to meet hers, I know what she feels for me. And being me, I hesitate. I hesitate because she is from Town and I from Seam. I hesitate because she belongs to the rich merchant class and I am just a miner's kid who soon himself will become a miner. I hesitate because she has everything and I don't have anything to offer her. I hesitate because not everyone can pull an Everdeen.

Pulling my hand away from hers, I turn around ignoring everything that just happened. I leave her on her front porch making my way to the Seam as if nothing happened and nothing will.

And thus I denied my love for her though I knew it was all there in me. I denied it till she drew her last breath. I denied it till her words left her for the last time.

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**A/N:- Kinda got sentimental writing this one :D **

**Good enough? **


	5. The Confession

**A/N:- The stories presented here after are individuals of themselves except for the words that connect them. **

_Gale's POV_

_And thus I denied my love for her though I knew it was all there in me. I denied it till she drew her last breath. I denied it till her words left her for the last time._

"I love you," I said frantically though she had hinted her feelings uncountable times.

"Don't you think its a little-" her coughs racks her entire body and all I could do was hold her close to me, hold her to this world for what its worth, "- late for that," she ends with a slight smile.

Tears flood my eyes. How could she be so calm at such time! I pushed my tears back. I am not going to cry. There is a puddle of blood all around her. She has been wounded pretty bad.

"Don't worry...I am sure Mrs. Everdeen can do something," I say frantically lifting her. She groans and her face morphs into that of pain.

"Gale, just leave me here. I am -" she takes a deep breath to steady her "Its...Its too late,"

"No! Its not! Stop saying that!," I shush her and run the entire way to the meadows where the fence is.

Madge's hand clutch my shirt smearing it with her blood. And yet she looks hesitantly at me for my reaction.

"Dont worry about that," I give her a watery smile as I make it across the fence.

I looked everywhere. Mrs. Everdeen was nowhere to be found. I ran to the place where I told Rory to get the Everdeens to stop but they weren't there. Nor my family was anywhere in sight.

My time was running out. _Bad_. The situation got totally out of hand. Madge knew that. She knew it was futile to bring her here the minute I proposed the idea. I get the feeling that she kept quiet for my sake, all this time.

Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Gale, please. You are making it harder than it has to be. You and I both know that I am not going to survive long," she says, her eyes hardened.

"But Mad-" she cuts me off by placing her finger on my lips.

"Can you take me to that flower field. . . _please_" she begs her eyes tearing up.

I nod quickly, carrying her all the way to the other side despite the lack of strength in me. When we reach the fields, a peaceful sigh escapes Madge. I take her to the centre of it, the part she loves the most, and lay her down. And I sit down next to her. She looks at me and gives me the same heart warming smile she did the first time I offered to bring her here.

I pluck all the surrounding flowers and place it within her grasp. She looks at me the entire time. Not giving the flowers even a single glance until she takes hold of my hand.

"When?" Is all she says.

_When did you fall in love with me?_

"The moment I brought you here in the woods for the first time," I say never leaving her gaze.

"Why?" She is not capable enough to say complete sentences. But she knows I understand.

_Why didn't you tell me?_

"I hesitated... because it makes no difference. I am a miner and you are the Mayor's Daughter. Its pathetic enough that I feel that way about you will only make it worse. Also, not everyone call pull an Everdeen," I say with wry humour. She grasps my hands firmly and gives me a look saying _'You are such an idiot'_

She pulls me down to her and before she shuts out forever she whispers, "You could have pulled a Hawthorne," and she fades out with a smile on her face, smiling at her own pretty joke.

She dims out like a light does in strong wind, leaving me forever alone.

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**A/N:- I don't like it very much. I mean the fact that Madge died. Liked the way I portrayed it though. :D Self obssessed xD!**

**Do ****you guys ****like it ? **

**I had planned for three or four chapter before I was going to end this but then again I believe they will be better off as separate fanfics than being a part of this one. So most probably going the wrap it all up in the next chapter. Thanks for sticking with me :D**


	6. We were there

**A/N:- I might be a lunatic to add a tone of humour to otherwise such a serious situation :P**

_She dims out like a light does in strong wind, leaving me forever alone._

And forever alone he is. Not for the fact that he can't seem to get over Madge, which is probably not possible at all, but for the fact that he does not wants to replace Madge. Can't deem her replaceble.

And thats how it shall be. He has spent too many drunken nights on dampened pillows for his own liking. Madge would have detested him for that. Would have shaken him awake telling him to get his act together, the same way she did when Katniss left for her first Hunger Games.

His lips quirked up at the thought of Madge suddenly materialising from nowhere and telling him to just _get his stupid ass up and get fucking useful_. He likes to admit that some of his influence did rub off on her.

Slowly getting up and working his legs for a while, he started walking towards the district fence. If he sat here any longer than people would start to think of him as a lunatic. He could almost imagine the headlines on the 'The Times of Panem'.

_War Hero/ Mockingjay's cousin goes berserk. Ends up spending an entire day sitting on a rock._

And he does not even wants to start on what will compose the article. Maybe some acts of his insanity over the last few years? They won't run short on material for sure.

It took him much longer than expected to get back. He came that deep into the woods.

Quickly jogging towards his hovercraft on the northern side of the district, he caught sight of his lieutenant.

"General!" she stood at attention.

"At ease, lieutenant Hawkeye," he says making his way inside the hovercraft.

"Sir, we are late for the communal meeting but we can still make it in time if we hurry. If you would allow us to speed up then..."

"Sure sure, but I would like to make a stop," he said dismissively as the hovercraft took off.

"Um...sure," she seemed wary of it but decided against going his commandment officer, "but where to, General?"

"Just to the centre of this district,"

"Why there?"

"There's just a burial site there, for the people who died in the rebellion,"

"But sir, I assumed you lost no one in the rebellion,"

His silence was an answer in itself and that was the end of the conversation.

She did noticed him holding something in his hand but couldn't work up the nerve to ask him. He wasn't himself after all. 5 years of working under him and she knew him to his core. He liked the sense of power, she noted at first. Always dishing out unnecessary orders to soldiers below him just for the fun of it. Even she herself had to suffer his wrath for the first 4 years. But eventually he would grow attached to those close to him. And once you get inside, you see the real him. His protectiveness over those under his care. And she thought of herself as very lucky to be inside that circle of closeness. He had started to treat her as his equal but more so like a friend.

Her train of thought was brought to an abrupt pause by the hovercraft landing and Gale immediately jumping off of it as soon as the hatch opened up.

Her eyes followed him as he started to move on from grave to grave in search of a certain someone. She followed close behind, eager to know whose grave it is that Gale's trying to find. Gale didn't mind ofcourse. She had grown close to him over the last 5 years. She was his right hand man. Or woman more likely.

She could sense his anxiety growing, the rage bubbling up not far from the surface.

It angered him to his very core._ It should have been here somewhere. It has to be. They just can't forget her altogether._ Can't dare to forget here. And if they did, they will pay for it.

As soon as he came across her name, relief flooded him and he sagged down in front of her grave, shoulders slumping.

He reached out to trace her name on the memorial as if its the only proof of her existance. As if she wasn't just a make-belief person Gale had created in his mind.

Meanwhile, Risa stood behind Gale looking at the name on the memorial wondering who Madge Undersee was to her General. By the looks of it, someone very important.

"She died on the night of the bombing," she heard him whisper.

"It was my fault. Let her go. She wanted to help me evacuate the district. And I just let her go, just like that," he stared emptily at her carved name.

"What was she like?"

"Like me, like me not," he opened his palm finally pulling his eyes from her name. Gently placing one of the two strawberries on her grave he continued, "Had a superiority complex like me. Would get all riled up easily. And may I say full of sarcasm," he said with a hint of smile on his face.

"Just like you, General," she smiled watching him smile. It was rare, even for her to see him like this.

"You tell me. But then again, she was all soft around the edges and would always get me to calm down. Could press things through my thick skull as well," his smile grew.

"And the best of all, she could pretend. Lie. Unlike me. She would catch me lying in a jiffy," he said getting up.

"She sounds nice," Risa supplied as they walked backed to hovercraft.

Gale didn't reply for a very long time, staring hard at the floor of the hovercraft, rummaging through his memories of her.

Her bright smile that shone through the darkest of his times. Sporting her gold spun hair with her pretty little perfect dresses that he always liked to mess up. Her opinions that were too big for one person to possess. Her loosing in her music as she played to forget her miseries. Her rage building up within her eyes when he told her he hated her because he thought she thought of him as a Seam rat when it was him all along who lived on prejudices. And her ever present cheerful attitude towards his family as if they were her own. They were.

"Thats because she was," he finally looked up to his lieutenant seeing concern plastered all over her face. Her face morphed back into relief as soon as she saw a content smile on his face which eventually mirrored onto hers. He was pulling a Hawthorne as Madge _ordered _him to.

"And I assumed there's something with the strawberries between you two?" Risa said in a teasing tone.

To that Gale smiled, "Oh yeah. Thats how we met. Me selling her strawberries and her paying me more than twice its price."

"Oh, she liked strawberries?"

"Nah. Hated them. Thats how we were alike. The fruit's sweetness is too good for our own liking," he looked outside the window, " and the girl didn't even let me know I was selling her fruits she detested till the very end," he supplied with a chuckle.

Risa smiled knowingly at his General before moving on to rescheduling her flight time.

Gale was left to his own devices. The very existance of the memorial had proved her existance, their existance. What they had wasn't just a one night stand kind of a thing.

It was real.

We were real.

And amongst all the ruckus he was only certain of one thing.

We were there.

X

The End.

X

**A/N:- Oh My Gale! May I just say I love myself for writing this. **

**Okay, first things first.**

**I would like to thank Clairvoyance for beta-ing every chapter for me. Couldn't have done it without you! Thanks a ton Aru-sama!**

**And a huge thanks to Tres, for reading my fanfic first hand and appreciating it even if it was pretence (I hope it wasn't)... _ ...xD**

**And for maremarethebear for being the first person to ever inspire me for writing a Gadge. You provided me the push!**

**And to all the followers, favouriters and reviewers who took the time to just put my damn grammatical mistakes and failed plotline into order. Thanks a lot!**

**And yeah, this last chapter was a tribute to my evergreen favourite romantic anime 'Bokura Ga Ita' (****僕等がいた****) that literally translates into 'We were there'. Love you Yano!**


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